The presenter fronts Countryfile investigations alongside hosting BBC Radio Four's environment show “Costing the Earth” and reports for Panorama on rural and energy issues.

However, fans of the Sunday evening family show have regularly hit out at moving the programme from friendly and fun segments, to darker and more serious elements.

Speaking exclusively to Express.co.uk, Tom said: “I think there are more than six million viewers watching Countryfile. It would be amazing if they were all happy with everything we said, and these days, particularly with social media, you can always find people on Twitter who don’t like things that we’ve said, and that’s fine.

“I actually think it was pretty clever, someone who coined the phrase ‘The Grim Heaper’ for me. I thought that was pretty good.